1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a work space wire management system and, more particularly, to a system for efficiently managing electrical and communications utilities associated with a work space having freestanding articles of furniture.
2. Description of the Related Art
1. Wire Management in Modular, Open-plan Office Arrangements
Office arrangements of the open-plan type are a frequently used technique for dividing otherwise large open areas into smaller, more functional work stations. Such systems generally involve a plurality of rigid rectangular space-dividing partitions and panels rigidly connected at their edge portions by panel connectors and arranged in a linear or angular array to subdivide the open area. Panel returns extend outwardly from the partitions at substantially right angles thereto, stabilize the same, and partially define the individual work stations. Vertical hanging intelligence in the form of a plurality of vertically elongated slots is provided in the partition side edges or the panel connectors. Modular components such as work surfaces and storage compartments are engaged with the vertical hanging intelligence and suspended from the partitions in cantilevered fashion.
Myriad electrical and communications devices such as computers, video display units, and associated peripheral equipment; telephones, interoffice communication systems, and the like; typewriters; calculators; dictaphones; lighting; clocks; radios; etc., can be associated with the work station. It has been long recognized that a more organized, efficient, aesthetic and comfortable work station can be created if an effective means for arranging, distributing and managing the numerous electrical and communications cables associated with the aforementioned myriad of equipment is provided. Consequently, design efforts have focused on concealing the wiring within hidden yet accessible tracks, channels, raceways, recesses and so on. Similarly, work top grommets for selectively accessing cables routed beneath the work top have been developed.
2. Wire Management in Freestanding Furniture Arrangements
Despite the strides in wire management system development that have been made with regard to the modular, open-plan-type office arrangements described above, comparatively little emphasis has been placed on constructing analogous systems for use with free-standing furniture arrangements. In a freestanding furniture arrangement, various articles of furniture such as single- and double-pedestal desks, credenzas, returns, bookcases, breakfronts, component tables, peninsular runoffs and the like of nearly infinite variety are configured in an array, such as a U or C shape, conducive to the efficient management and organization of work. To the extent that such arrangements define secretarial and support staff work stations, the same myriad of electrical and communications equipment described above in connection with the modular office systems must be successfully incorporated into the freestanding furniture work station.
Furniture of the freestanding type is also used to furnish offices occupied by junior, mid-level, and executive management personnel who often have much of the same equipment affiliated with the support staff work stations installed in their own personal offices. This trend is increasing in that computer terminals and the like are more and more becoming a desktop tool for management.
However, the bundles of cables and wiring needed to power and supply the various electrical and communications devices have been left untended. They can easily clutter and disrupt an otherwise efficiently organized work space. Furthermore, numerous cables draped across work surfaces and snaking along floors are both unsightly and perhaps hazardous. They detract from the neat and professional appearance that businesses attempt to project. They may also create tripping hazards for workers, passersby, guests and so on. Although it was recognized some two decades ago that a solution to these deficiencies was needed for modular, open-plan-type office arrangements, comparatively little emphasis has been focused on resolving these same wants in the context of a freestanding furniture arrangement.
Thus, there is a need for a wire management system that is adapted for use with freestanding articles of furniture of the type described above. For such a system to be commercially successful, it must not only be capable of effectively concealing the cables but must provide means for easily accessing the cables from work surface tops. Furthermore, the system must be adapted to route cables from one article of furniture to an adjacent article, such as a return adjacent a desk, in a relatively concealed manner. Moreover, the individual elements of the wire management system must be discrete and adapted to blend aesthetically with the rich, fine woods from which the freestanding furniture articles may be constructed and the handsomely appointed surrounding environments in which furniture of such quality is often found.